Disclaimer: All rights are protected and the
story cannot be reproduced without permission.

This story is a work of fiction and contains scenes of gay
sex between consenting individuals. If you find this offensive, are under the
age of 18, it is illegal wherever you are to read this, stop reading now. Leave
this site. If you are offended by harsh language, please exit this page immediately.
You have been warned. This work of fiction is property of myself and may not be
copied or used in any way without my express consent.

Much thanks and appreciation goes to Rubilacxe andFlyboy38 my editors and second
& third set of eyes.

The six months after the war was declared over
was a time of celebration and relaxation for both the Breed and the Regia'an. There
were parties of all sizes all over the world. Even though the Regia'an now had
Lady Elzabeth as their Queen, the members of the Breed did not accept them
fully. Everyone knew it would take time.

Many things happened over those six months for
many people, both good and bad. It was during this time that Ray and Mike
graduated from high school. Both of them were honored with awards from the
school for "Meritorious Service to the school, students, teachers, and staff." The
reward was a not so secret, secret way for them to be recognized as the saviors
of the school.

Iris and Gene
moved into the manor house under the understanding that they were there to help
take care of the five children. Of course everyone knew that with five slaves
and a household staff that it was not totally the truth. Toban had decided
that he wanted and needed the remainder of his whole family around him and the
children. Iris and Gene did not sell their house but instead rented it out to
a young ghoul family for half the actual value.

Gene continued
his addiction to the television but now had a 50 inch High Definition Flat Screen
and well over 500 channels to choose from—he was in television heaven. Iris
took over as the head of the household and the staff. Toban and the Zoméa were
then free to spend more time with the children and their individual Conclave
business. Iris also took over answering the phone at the house and acting as
the secretary for everyone in the house.

The five
African slave boys remained with Toban at the manor. They were each given
their own private room in the attic. The rooms were much smaller than typical bedrooms,
but each boy had all he needed. They even were allowed to watch television in the
living room, den, or the game room whenever they wanted, as long as their work
was completed first.

Toban even
decided that each boy would be going to school. They were homeschooled with
tutors until they achieved the school level appropriate to their ages. The
older two boys seemed to be torn between not wanting to go to school and not
wanting to disobey their masters. The other boys were happy to go to school. Every
boy's grades showed their true attitude. Toban finally spoke to the older boys
and agreed that if they did their best, then they did not have to go to regular
school and would be tutored at home. Their grades improved greatly after that
talk.

Thomas and his
three daughters, the mothers of Toban's three biological children, visited the
Zoméa and family on a regular bases. Each mother pumped their breasts for the
milk; it was bottled and refrigerated for later use. Occasionally the babies
would have milk straight from the teat. It was never a thought that the women
could or would want to take over parenting from the Zoméa. None of them had proper
parenting skills anyway.

Antino's dogs
Jethro and Coltrane stayed at the manor while Antino was in the hospital. Jethro
had already taken a liking to Adam. Hera the dog was already attached to
Betty, leaving Coltrane to imprint on Chris. When Antino returned from the
hospital, he learned that the dogs had adopted the children and refused to leave
their sides.

After a
conversation between Antino, Jethro, and Coltrane, Antino decided that the
babies needed the dogs much more than he ever would. He later decided to get a
Wolf/Mastiff hybrid to replace Jethro and Coltrane. Antino was actually happy
to see the interaction between the boys and the dogs. It had always surprised
him how Hera protected Betty.

When Paul was
killed he was buried in the plot that was intended for his mother, Mildred. His
daughter Paula was forced to move in with Mildred. Neither Paula nor Mildred
liked the idea but Mildred felt honor bound due to Paula being family.

During her time
living with her grandmother, Paula collected three or four boyfriends at a
time. Three months after the end of the war between the Breed and the
Regia'an, Mildred passed away in her sleep. Within hours of the funeral, Paula
had moved in with her main boyfriend at the time, a Hells Angel biker named
Deacon.

Paula's life
living with Deacon lasted exactly one month. Even though she was living with
Deacon, she had not given up on her other boyfriends. Deacon himself was not
faithful, playing with two other women and one guy. He was smart enough to
keep them all separate from each other. Unfortunately Paula was not that
smart. One day, approximately one month after moving in with Deacon, Paula was
found in their bed with another of her boyfriends.

Deacon killed
both of them with a .45 caliber Glock G30 pistol. He then disappeared with his
boyfriend—neither was ever seen again. The police buried Paula in a pauper's
grave without ceremony. Not even her boyfriends felt her loss.

Ernest took
good care of Toby and Valen. Even though he was distant to both of them
emotionally he took care of them. The monthly stipend that Ray gave for their
upkeep was not only used on their upkeep but was also evenly distributed
between Valen, Toby, and his three other children.

Ray was not
happy with the way the money was handled but could not do anything as it was
not illegal in either the Human laws or the Breed laws. He made his
displeasure known by spending exorbitant amounts of money on his brother and
sister during the times he visited with them. Toban even demanded that they be
allowed to spend at least two months of their three month summer vacation, with
him. A check for $100,000 smoothed over any issues that Ernest may have had at
the time.

During the time of
Antino's hospitalization, his fangs, the Brat Pack, rushed to Oklahoma City and
remained at his side every day. They made sure that at least one of their
members was there at all times. Damian and Micah made sure that they were
beside Antino the majority of the time.

Just before his
release from the hospital, Antino ordered the fangs to abandon their previous home
of the moment and return to him in Oklahoma City. Even though the boys felt as
if they were being punished, they had no choice but to follow Antino's command.
When they returned with all of their possessions, the boys were surprised to
find out that Antino wanted them to move into his largest house.

The boys found their
new life very different than the previous one. They no longer had difficulty dealing
with daily life and became messengers, housekeepers, groundskeepers, and
general security for Antino's person and house. They were not only paid in
blood but in money and love.

One month before
school was due to start again Mr. and Mrs. Bundy sold their restaurant "Bundy
Burgers" so they could retire. Darla the favorite waitress of Ray, Mike, and
Rex was asked by the older couple if she thought she could buy the restaurant
from them. She was not able to come up with the money and was sad to not only
lose her job, her friends, and what she felt was her home.

Darla found an
unmarked envelop with a cashiers' check for $1,000,000 in her mailbox. The
only other thing was an unsigned letter inside.

Darla,

Use this money to purchase `Bundy
Burgers', giving the Bundy's a hefty profit in the sale. Use the remainder of
the money for the restaurant and your own needs. The only thing that we ask is
that you leave the restaurant open and give the occasional free meal.

Your
hidden friends,

Darla was happy to
purchase the restaurant. She had the whole restaurant redone; fixing cracked booth
seats and worn tables as well as gathering more memorabilia from the 1950's. Mr.
and Mrs. Bundy continued to visit the restaurant almost daily, both to help out
and to enjoy the companionship of their long-term friends/customers.

In the Junkyard,
Justin had finally revealed his feelings to Larry. The small boy surprised
Justin when he said: "Well, it is about time." and then jumped on him and kissed
him happily. They then moved into Conclave housing for a short time and then
finally into their own small home.

Daniel, the dhampir
son of Marcus, found while living with Junior and Karl that he liked the
freedom he now had. He occasionally would allow Junior or Karl to pleasure
him, but never returned the favor. By the end of the war, he had found a human
girlfriend named Cassie. When he was allowed to by Toban, Daniel moved out of
the junkyard and into an apartment with Cassie. She was aware that he was
different but not to the extent that he was and that was what Daniel wanted.

Junior and Karl were
offered security jobs at the manor by Rex. Everyone knew that he missed his
friends, even though he denied it. They were moved into the small apartment
above the garage within a week of the end of the war. The changes in the
security began immediately. Little was done that would affect the family. Most
of the changes that happened involved how easy or hard it was for visitors to
get to the manor door.

Simon and Theo found
that they were losing people in the junkyard. While it was disturbing from a
junkyard security stand point, they were happy to see everyone moving on to
something better. They both then began looking at the Haven's for willing
replacements.

Darius, the Conclave
leader of the wolves, had been listening to the whining and griping of Marjoram
about how she was improperly lowered in rank and how she deserved to be
reinstated as the Head of the eastern wolf pack. He finally had enough. One
evening he took her out on a drive into the countryside. Once they were far enough
away from people, Darius took Marjoram out of the car and into the woods.

While they were in
the woods Darius talked to her about personal pride, pack pride, and being
proud of being a wolf. He finally looked at her and said: "What would you as a
leader do to someone that did not show proper self pride, pack pride, or even
pride in being a wolf?"

She responded with
an attitude: "I would slaughter them of course."

"Then you'd better
run." Darius said in a soft voice.

After a moment of
shock Marjoram turned and ran for the forest. She began to change forms as she
ran. Darius was much quicker than her and had her downed within ten minutes. She
was mauled to death within another five. Darius knew that he had to report her
death to both the pack and either the Conclave counsel or Toban. He was not
concerned about getting in any trouble as the wolves were his responsibility
and he could kill any one for breaking pack laws.

When Darius reported
his killing of Marjoram to Toban, he was surprised when the young man did not
question him, but instead retrieved the proper form and had him fill it out himself.
Toban then took the form, smiled and asked if Darius wanted to get a drink
with him.

Harry Walert the
head of the ghoul clean-up teams spent the time after his last meeting with
Toban preparing new ideas for keeping teams with new members as well as having
back up teams available. He decided that three ideas would work the best: take
your ghoul to work days, offering rotating shifts for the teams, as well as
opening the spots on the teams to other races as well as the ghouls.

The first "Take your
Ghoul to Work Days" was very successful. The idea was simply having team
members bring at least one of their children to work with them. Harry even
brought his own son Sam to the events, every single one of them. Sam enjoyed
helping but it was obvious that his plans for life did not include working in
clean-up teams.

The rotating shifts
for the teams required two more teams but alternated the schedule for most of
the teams. Two teams choose to remain on a standard work schedule. The
rotating shifts were one shift of 8 hours on, two shifts off, two shifts on,
one shift off, thus making one clean-up crew working 24 hours in a two day period,
but with rest in between and the 6th and 7th cycles
taking off totally.

The first non-ghoul
clean-up team group was comprised totally of non-breeds—it failed badly. It
was then decided that non-ghouls should be integrated into other teams. By adding
the non-ghouls to the teams, the total number of teams was again increased,
this time by five additional teams.

By the end of
setting the new ideas into motion, Harry was very happy with the results and
had enough teams that he came up with a new idea. The idea was to assign a
clean-up team to only clean up after Toban and his family. After several
discussions with Toban and George it was agreed upon that a team should indeed
be assigned, but with the understanding that if they were needed elsewhere they
would be going.

Bill, the manager of
Club Maxx, The Cistern, and Thantos, came across three other clubs for Toban to
own. Two of the clubs were for straight people. Both were meat market type
clubs. The third club was a lesbian bar named T&T, also known as Tits and
Twats. The only concern that he had dealing with Club Maxx, The Cistern, and
Thantos was that the City council was considering creating a curfew for anyone
under 18 and that would destroy the teen club scene permanently.

Bill was devastated
when one month after the war, the curfew ruling passed. By the 3rd
month after the war, Club Maxx and The Cistern were closed. Thantos followed
the next month after that. When Bill brought up the situation to Toban, he was
told to look into other forms of entertainment to use the buildings they
owned. Within a month Bill returned with ideas of using the former Club Maxx
as a franchised pool hall, the Cistern as a Starbucks coffee house, and Thantos
as an Atomic Taco.

While Bill did not
have experience dealing with coffee houses or restaurants, he was smart enough
to hire managers for both of them. Toban was pleased that Bill took action and
gifted him with 25% of all three of the properties.

Tobias, the
Arena Pit Manager, was happy to see Toban one evening after graduation, before
the fights even began. At first he thought that Toban was just there to watch
the fights and was shocked when Toban removed his shirt and jumped into the
arena. Toban then turned to the stands and found Tobias. "I want to fight
tonight."

Tobias was in
heaven as the return of Toban would be very profitable for both of them. That
first night he netted $1,000,000 and Toban's cut was $250,000. Over the next
three months when Toban had a rough day as the temporary leader of the
Conclave, he came down and fought at least two other fighters. The money that
he won was always donated to a charity or something else that happened to be on
his mind.

When the war
was over, Cylest the Afro-Simian ambassador was given a choice of being
promoted to Interspecies Ambassador from the Simian King and Queen or promotion
to International Conclave Liaison. The Interspecies promotion was offered by
the King and Queen of the Simians, while the liaison promotion was offered by
Antino.

Cylest was
confused about accepting either promotion as he did not want to anger or upset
either his monarch or the Ancient. His choice was made easier when the queen
came to him and told him: "We understand that the Ancient has offered you a
promotion as well, neither Jasya nor I will be upset if you choose the
Ancient's offer as we know it would open many new opportunities for your
future."

By the end of
the month, Cylest accepted the offer to be the International Conclave Liaison. Cylest
suggested his former aid NarJa for either the position of Ambassador or
Interspecies Ambassador as she was with him in every one of his official
duties. It was a week later that he heard NarJa had been appointed the new
Afro-Simian Ambassador. Cylest sent NarJa several personal and non-personal
gifts as congratulations for her appointment.

Mr. Borden was
shocked when Principle Billings came into his office during the teachers' end
of the school year cleanup, holding a certified letter. The letter was
addressed to the music department care of the school. In the envelope were a
short note and a check for $1,500,000. The note read:

Mr. Borden,

Please take this check as
a donation for the music department. I ask that you use a good portion of the
money to purchase new school based instruments. The brass Bari's E flat key
sticks and the silver one's G key sticks. I am sure the other instruments need
attention as well.

Thanks,

Mr. Borden smiled as
he knew where the money came from, though the amount shocked him. With the
references about the baritone saxophone, it could have been only one of two
people, Steven or Ray, and only Ray remotely appeared to be able to have
connections for that amount of money.

The principle looked
at Mr. Borden with the expectation of him revealing the benefactor. When Mr.
Borden looked at him with a look of confusion, which was faked, Principle
Billings accepted that they would not figure it out. When he returned to his
office he was surprised to see a small package sent to him on his desk.

The package held a
cookbook, a note and an identical check. The cookbook held green and yellow
Breed based recipes. The check was for $10,000,000 and the letter read:

Principle Billings,

I am sure that you now know that
The Breed is a small part of your school. We appreciate the help that the
staff, teachers, and students gave us over the last year.

The check is for you to
purchase the much needed supplies for teachers and students, new equipment for
the staff and stocking the teacher's lounge. I of course am only suggesting
this, it is a donation to use as you see fit.

The cookbook on the other hand is
for you and the cafeteria staff to offer other meal choices to the students.
Green food is totally safe for all students; yellow is safe but could cause
some of the students with weaker constitutions to have stomach trouble.

Over the next year or so The
Breed population in your school will increase, directly proportional to your
continued acceptance.

Thank
you,

The
Breed Conclave President

Principle Billings
began reading though the cookbook. Some of the recipes looked sickening to
him, while others look delicious. He was now very curios as the writing in his
letter looked exactly like the letter Mr. Borden received. Though he was
curious, he was not stupid enough to do anything about it other than spend the
money.

Both Mr. Borden and
Principle Billings put their new windfalls to excellent use. Mr. Borden
purchased new band instruments, repaired the older ones, purchased new robes
for the choir, and new music for Marching Band, Concert band, Jazz band, Choir,
and the Orchestra. He also purchased a computer with Marching Band positioning
software.

Mr. Billings made
sure every department had new books and supplies. He purchased new computers
for the office workers and the computer lab, new microscopes, chemical and
specimens for the science labs, new cleaning equipment for the janitorial
staff, new merchandise for the in school store, fully updated and stocked the
teachers' lounge, and purchased several new varieties of meat and vegetables so
the new recipes could be introduced.

When the new school
year started the new freshmen class included 4 bear thropes, 2 wolf thropes, 1 ghoul
and 1 of Antino's Brat Pack. The sophomore year had 1 bear, 3 wolf brothers
and 2 of Antino's Brat Pack. The junior class was the least affected with only
1 of Antino's Brats. The senior year had 6 ghouls from two different families.

Steve, known by
the newspapers as Chaos, started the new school year after Toban's graduation
by being approached by several students who wanted him to start a new group. The
group was named "The Friends of the Bridge" or FB. He accepted and at the
first meeting was elected president. He also started another group as an
offshoot of the FB that was not openly sanctioned by the school, called "The
Protectors". He had been indoctrinated into the Conclave and became attached
to the Shade Prince's cadre known as The Bridge Council.

Tammy who
became known as the Shifter also joined the FB. She had since the summer
dropped her plain appearance and took on a more appealing appearance, much to
the dislike of the older members of the band and color guard. Tammy did not
care; it was to make her feel better about herself, not to try and snare a
human boyfriend. She was an active member of "The Protectors." She had been
indoctrinated into the Conclave and became attached to the Shade Prince's cadre
known as The Bridge Council.

Sam the ghoul
still had a major case of hero worship and it only became worse when he was
indoctrinated into the Conclave and became attached to the Shade Prince's cadre
known as The Bridge Council. His head began to swim when he joined FB and was
elected to be the secretary. Sam calmed down slightly when he was also offered
a place with "The Protectors." Every time he got the opportunity to speak to
his hero, Toban would be nice and hold a conversation with him, treating him as
an equal, and endearing himself even more to the boy.

Mr. Salvar
became one of the favorite teachers at the school as everyone realized he was
also Breed. Even though it was not accepted in the course work, the students
began asking questions about the Breed and Mr. Salvar specifically; a few of
the questions were a bit personal. Mr. Salvar openly acted as the facility
advisor for the FB and unofficial advisor for "The Protectors."

Sherry retired from
full-time work as an assassin and became an instructor for assassins in training.
She was given the option of also going to school to get another degree. She
said that she would think about it. Sherry visited the graves of the people
that had raised her, George's oldest children, and wept for all the years of
anger and confusion.

The Conclave
council was surprised when soon after Toban took control he created several new
legislations. The first was the Interspecies Educational Act, followed by the
creation of the Council for Interspecies Relations, The Bridge Cadre, and Breed
Family Responsibility Act.

The Interspecies
Educational Act (IEA) made it easier for Breed children to go to human based
schools from 6th grade until graduation. The act gave grants for
any special needs that the students may have to blend in with the human
children: contacts to change eye color and appearance, special make-up to
change skin color, necroblock to protect the skin, and other special items. It
also gave students stipends if they wanted to go to private human schools.

The Council for
Interspecies Relations was a group currently composed of most Breed species,
the human governor, and an open seat for the human President of the United
States, and three seats for other humans without any rank. However each Breed
species had an available seat on the Council as well.

The Bridge Cadre was
created to act as a sounding and support board for Toban's interactions with
the human population. It was agreed that Toban would attempt to limit or totally
suspend going out in public as The Bridge so that the furor surrounding him
could be controlled. They also began sculpting the image that Toban was to
take when he went out as The Bridge.

Charlett took a
short vacation, at least short for a vampire and after a month returned with
three new helpers, two male humans and a female human. They were named Terry,
Tony, and Teresa. Terry and Teresa were twins and Terry and Tony were lovers. Charlett
purchased a home down the street from Antino's Swan Lake home.

Kar revealed
the changes in his life slowly to his brother Jason. First to be revealed was
that Mike was gay which Jason just looked at him as if it was no big secret. Mike
then revealed that he was in a relationship with Ray, Rex, and George. Again
Jason gave him the look as if he already knew that.

Kar then began to
lay out the general facts about the Breed and how each of them fit into it. He
explained that Rex, Ray, and he had been killed and how they were resurrected. It
was then explained how they became more and had selected new names. The change
also made them more powerful.

Jason did not
believe the story until both Kar and Toban expanded their shadow energy into
small shadow balls and played a quick game of catch. Jason was terrified until
he remembered that they had saved him and had only treated him with respect. He
eventually accepted the changes in his brother and the loss of his parents. He
soon became a human helper of the Breed, the Conclave, and specifically the
Zoméa.

The one thing that
Kar continued to hide from Jason was the fact that he was an apprentice
assassin. It was difficult on occasions when Kar had to go either to a secret
assassin meeting or the assassination of a corrupt sheriff of a nearby town. Toban
ordered it after it was found out that the sheriff had caused the death of
several gay teens in the area.

The thing that was
never a secret was that Kar felt the responsibility of being the five
children's most active parent. He made sure that he was available as much as
possible to be around the children. Kar doted on each of them individually and
in groups: Davey and Shanny in one and Adam, Betty, and Chris in the other.

George continued
working as the Conclave's Assassin guild master and began teaching Conclave law
at the Breed school. Even though he was released from his protection duties by
Antino, George continued watching over both his Zoméa and the Ancient, though a
bit more secretively.

George was also able
to spend a large amount of time with the children. He was able to interact
easier with Shanny and Davey more so than the babies, but made sure to hold and
love the babies daily. It became a common sight to see his large form wedged
in the nursery's rocking chair holding one or two of the babies at a time while
attempting to sing to them.

Rex spent his time
exercising in the Conclave gyms, working with Breed teens, and training them in
protection and blending in to human society. He also had decided to attempt to
go to College and decided on Tulsa Community College, a two year school. Rex
studied general studies and Criminal Justice.

Elzabeth, as the new Queen of the
Regia'an, ordered an accounting of everything including the location and status
of the cloning facilities. She began creating ways for the Breed and Regia'an
to reintegrate together. Elzabeth made monthly reports directly to Antino and
Toban. It was decided that they would fast track recombining the two groups,
only taking a hundred or a hundred and fifty years to integrate.

Antino spent
slightly over a month in the Oklahoma City Conclave Hospital under the watchful
eyes of both the healers and his own `Brat Pack.' The council members made visits
collectively and individually. Toban and the Zoméa made sure to visit Antino
in groups of threes or fours almost daily. Toban was usually the one that was
not able to visit as he was working for the Conclave.

When Antino had
recovered enough to leave the hospital, he was taken home by the Zoméa and the
`Brat Pack.' He then moved the `Brat Pack' into his house to help maintain it,
keep an active presence in Oklahoma, and to protect them. He also reviewed
the actions taken by Toban while he was in the hospital just so he could catch
up on all of the changes that have occurred.

To prove to both
Toban and the Conclave Council that Toban's rulings were proper, he confirmed
each ruling in front of the whole Conclave Council. After the list of rulings
was ratified by Antino, Toban was given a standing ovation from the whole Conclave,
not just the Council.

The night after
everything was ratified, Antino revealed three things that needed to happen: First,
Antino had to go to Europe to show himself and see to the needs of the rest of
the world; Second, Toban needed to visit the Southwestern Conclave to check on
rumors of rouge fangs and find out what the issue is with the leadership in the
area; third and last, for Toban to try and take a vacation in the Breed village
of Toŏmę.

The six months
following the war was extremely busy for Toban. He not only had to deal with
the Conclave's business, but family business and The Bridge business as well. Toban
sent a total of three checks out in the mail: one for the purchase of Bundy Burgers;
one to help the band at school; and one to help the school itself. He enjoyed
fighting in the arena pits as well.

Toban spent most of
the six months as the leader of the Conclave. During that time he gained a lot
of respect, a lot of publicity with the Breed, and friends in all the packs and
all the clans. His income skyrocketed, making him the second wealthiest individual
of the entire Breed.

Toban was upset about
having to enter the human elementary school that Davey attended. He walked
with determination toward the school's office. When he opened the office door
he was met by a tearful Davey, an upset female principal, and Mrs. Davis, Davey's
teacher who was doctoring her own leg.

"Mr.
McFearsome," the principal began: "your child took a bite out of his
teacher."

Toban verified
that the teacher's leg indeed had a small but healthy chunk taken out of its
calf. It was verified by the bloody face and mouth of Davey, who was
absentmindedly licking his lips. Mrs. Davis was bandaging her leg with the
school's first-aid kit, more in shock than anything else.

Before Toban
could say anything she stated flatly and coldly: "The boy is suspended for
the remainder of the year."

"If the
boy was a few years older, he would be heading for juvenile hall." the
principal explained with fury in her voice.

"Thank you."
Tobin answered the principal, his anger just below the surface. "You may
suspend him, but he will not return next year or ever again! I will make sure
he is put in an exclusive, private school that will ignore your suspension."

The principal
was upset at Toban's fury and began to interrupt him. "Now see here, Mr.
McFearsome!" the principal sputtered: "The boy injured his
teacher!"

"Yes and I
am sure there was also a reason behind it." Tobin interjected forcefully.
"What was going on in the classroom at the time it happened?"

"We were
only discussing the difference between reality and fantasy." The teacher
softly said. "The boy believes in vampires and were-creatures.
He said one of his fathers was a bear and his grandfather was a vampire."
the teacher explained incredulously.

"Well, I
will have to correct that." Toban said with sarcasm. "Two of his
fathers are bears, not one." He then turned and picked up Davey and
walked out the door, leaving the teacher and principal with their mouths
hanging open.

Davey was still
crying as they left the school and headed toward the car. He was unsure what
would happen. He did not know if he was going to get spanked, sent away or
something worse. Davey's small body shook as he was being held by Toban. He
looked at his hero in fear.

"Don't
worry little one." Toban said reading the boy's mind. "You are not
being sent away or something worse. You were only defending your family."

"Just remember
that what you said was a secret." Toban said tickling the boy's belly. Davey
then began to giggle and twitch as he enjoyed the attention. Toban then began
using sanitized tools from the glove box to clean Davey's face, chin, and neck.

The rest of the
day was spent getting ice cream, going to the park, and generally enjoying each
other's company. Toban and Davey bonded deeper than ever before. Toban then
explained to Davey that he would have to go to Breed school from now on. Davey
was happy because he would get to see Shanny every day.

In the fifth
month after the war Toban was to meet with Antino at the Swan Lake House. Antino
told him that he needed a vacation. Toban also found that Antino had a project
for him to complete. The project was to locate, verify, and deal with
suspected rouge fangs. Antino gave Toban total approval and power on how to
deal with the problem.

The reported fang
activity was in Phoenix, Arizona which allowed Toban to visit the Breed village
of Toŏmę which was northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona. Toban learned
that the village was originally a ghost town that had been forgotten by the
government. Toŏmę had the largest underground complex in the United
States at just over 40 square miles and almost one thousand yards deep. Its
structure was totally artificial and the greatest building feat of the United
States Breed.

Toban would be
expected to fly out of Tulsa in the Conclave's private Boeing 787-VIP jet airplane
at the end of the week. He would spend his time divided between Toŏmę
and Phoenix, over 200 miles apart. Toban would have the jet, a helicopter, and
cars at his disposal for quick travel. The Zoméa and the children would arrive
by jet a week later for the vacation to start.

The very next
day, Toban was informed by Antino's secretary that he had an international
videoconference call waiting for him in his office. When he reached his office
Toban found every computer screen in his office activated and showing a face.

"Hello, Shade
Prince." a Nordic looking man said from the bottom left hand corner
screen. "I am the Ancient Houg' an. It is good to finally meet you."

A dark skinned
Mediterranean woman spoke next her face coming from the bottom center computer
screen. "I am the ancient Athea. I apologize for this interruption of
your day."

The face of
Latino man in the bottom right computer screen spoke next: "I am Luis,
another Ancient."

"G' day
there youngster, I be James from Sydney, another Ancient." an older man
said from the top left monitor.

"Well, now
that everyone has gotten their introductions over with, I am Mobossa." a
dark skinned boy in the top center monitor said. "I am the second oldest
Ancient next to Antino."

The remaining face
in the top right monitor then spoke: "I am Darius, the master of protocol.
I am here to make sure protocol is followed."

Each and every one
of the Ancients rolled their eyes at the fact Darius was even there. The
Ancient James then asked: "Do we really need a protocol master?"

Each of the Ancients
in their own time said no and then looked at Toban for his opinion. When Tobin
realized that he was expected to vote also, he said: "No!"

Without further
comment Darius disconnected and his screen went black. Each of the ancients
then breathed a sigh of relief. Toban giggled until he realized and remembered
who and what this group was. He was then embarrassed. The whole group of
Ancients burst out in laughter at Toban's embarrassment.

"We have a couple
problems," Mobossa stated after he finished laughing: "and we need to
meet with you in person to discuss them."

"I will be leaving
here at the end of the week and be staying in Toŏmę for at least a
month on Conclave business and a family vacation." Toban explained. "So it
needs to be in the next couple days or we can meet in Toŏmę in a
week."

"I am sure that we
can all agree to meet in Toŏmę," Luis acknowledged.

The other Ancients
agreed that it would be the best idea for all involved, each acknowledging that
they also needed a vacation as well. It was decided that they would all meet
in Toŏmę one week after Toban arrived there.

That Friday Toban
was taken to the Conclave air terminal by the Zoméa and the children. With
both Shanny and Davey crying, it became even harder for Toban to leave, but he
reminded them both that everyone would see him in a week. Toban then made sure
that the older children thought of it as an adventure. With hugs and kisses from
everyone, Toban entered the concourse and prepared to board the plane.

The planes interior
was very stylized with wood accents. It had an ornate entry, a dining area, a meeting
area, an office, and a bedroom on board. The office and meeting areas each had
computer access and the plane was totally wireless internet accessible. Toban
sat down in the office and buckled the seatbelt in preparation for take-off. His
thoughts were not about the mission but what the future held and he smiled.